V. Benkunskas told BNS that the Ministries of Culture and Finance have been tasked with allocating the promised 10 million euros, which were supposed to be included in this year’s state budget.
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“Regarding the national concert hall, there is a desire to ensure funding so that it does not stop, and that the project is completed by 2028 in the fastest possible way. (…) I have not heard any concerns or threats that construction could stop due to lack of funding,” the capital’s mayor told BNS.
“As is known, the Ministry of Culture lacks 10 million euros in the budget for the national concert hall funding. Instead of 20 million euros, 10 million euros were included in the budget. As far as I know, this is an instruction to both the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance to allocate the necessary funds for this project. I really hope this will be done, but today we discussed more about how to complete the project in the next, or the following years, ensuring the necessary funding. Decisions still need to be made, but the political will from the Prime Minister was expressed today,” he added.
According to him, decisions on further funding and the project are expected to be found by autumn: “We agreed that we will work intensively during the summer and will make both political and legal decisions by autumn.”
BNS wrote that in June, after the Mayor of Vilnius stated that only half of the 20 million euros promised by the Ministry of Culture this year for the construction of the national concert hall, or the House of the Nation, was currently planned, former Minister of Culture Vaida Aleknavičienė said that an additional 10 million euros is being sought.
According to the Mayor of Vilnius, the project will need more than 55 million euros from the Government in 2027–2028, and with proper funding ensured, the 121 million euro object being built on Tauro Hill could be completed earlier – in autumn 2028.
The Government will actively take up the issue of the Sports Palace
Meanwhile, speaking about the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace, V. Benkunskas told BNS that no decisions were made at the meeting with the Prime Minister, and the Government should soon present plans for this project.
“As I understand, the Government, the Prime Minister, and his team will actively take up the issue of the Sports Palace. So, I see that they will soon present their plans regarding renewed discussions, possibilities, and finally make decisions. The Government itself will announce news soon,” said the head of Vilnius.
“We do not rule out the possibility that the transfer (of the Sports Palace – BNS) may happen and this was discussed, but we definitely did not make or evaluate a decision today. Until then, several essential questions regarding the function need to be addressed,” he added.
V. Benkunskas also said he presented the congress center planned to be built next to the Parliament, but there was no discussion about the possibility of the Government contributing to its funding.
“There was no talk about funding or even partial funding. I said once again that if we want to create infrastructure that could really be attractive to foreign businesses and tourists, we have to offer suitable infrastructure that our developing project could perfectly fill. At the same time, I conveyed that the Sports Palace is too small for this function,” the mayor told BNS.
As BNS reported, in May the Parliament began considering a draft resolution proposing that the Government adapt the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace into a congress center, while simultaneously commemorating the old Jewish cemeteries and the activities of the Sąjūdis movement in this area.
Meanwhile, as public opinions diverged on what should operate in the currently dilapidated Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace, the Parliament’s Culture Committee decided to postpone the decision until autumn.
According to the draft resolution, the Government is proposed to implement the June 9, 2015 resolution “On the reconstruction of the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace and its adaptation for congresses, conferences, and cultural events as a project recognized as important to the state.”
The Parliament’s Culture Committee, in turn, should form a working group to prepare a refined functional project for the future Congress Center, and the Ministry of Culture should ensure that the palace is declared a state-protected cultural heritage object of national significance. Currently, it has the status of a regionally significant protected object.
According to the project, the Ministry of Culture is also proposed to announce a creative competition to create a memorial and exhibition on the palace grounds dedicated to the memory of the former Vilnius Jewish Šnipiškės old cemeteries and to commemorate the historical activities of Sąjūdis.
The Vilnius City Municipality would be urged to contribute to the project’s implementation.
According to the previously approved project, the reconstructed palace would include conference spaces, a library, a cultural and information center, exhibitions on the Rebirth and Sąjūdis, and a memorial and educational space on Jewish history.
Part of the Jewish community opposes the establishment of the Congress Center, wanting the palace to be converted into the Lithuanian Jewish History Memorial.
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